How to View HD YouTube Videos on Windows Phone 7

Thanks to YouTube you can view high quality videos on Windows Phone 7 - and with the right handset you will enjoy a marvellous viewing experience!

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High Quality YouTube Clips

If you enjoy watching YouTube clips then you will probably be interested in installing one of the several YouTube apps on your Windows Phone. The one you choose might depend on what functionality you’re looking for.

Not all Windows Phone 7 YouTube apps are created equal, with some offering a basic experience and others preferring to provide high quality video feeds wherever these are available.

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High Quality YouTube on your Desktop

The reason you can view high quality clips on your mobile is because YouTube have been offering improved resolution for viewing videos for some time now, and it is possible to view YouTube videos in a variety of different definitions on the main website.

While in the past you might have been restricted to a rather blocky rendition of the content you were looking for, the modern YouTube affords you the option of changing from the usual default 240p or 320p up to much higher quality, even displaying video clips in HD.

These controls are available via the main player console, although you can also take advantage of various URL hacks to improve the resolution of what you see in your browser – for instance adding &fmt=22 to the end of a YouTube video clip URL will force the clip to play in 1280×720 (720p), which is H.264 video @ 1024Kbps.

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Viewing Windows Phone HD Video in YouTube

While there is no actual HD for Windows Phone available via the YouTube apps as yet – and given the minimum spec of the devices this can only be a matter of time – it is possible to view YouTube videos in very high quality thanks to the HTC YouTube app for Windows Phone 7.

The problem here is that HTC’s YouTube app isn’t available for non-HTC users, who are limited to the standard apps as well as the LazyWorm app – good news here though is that the latest version of the YouTube app by LazyWorm also supports high quality video feeds for Windows Phone 7, although note that these are only available via Wi-Fi.

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Watch High Quality YouTube Videos on Windows Phone

Despite the ability to watch HQ videos on the LazyWorm YouTube app, if you’re using an HTC Windows Phone such as the HTC HD7 you should be taking advantage of the superior YouTube application.

Using this app – free from the HTC Hub – you won’t even need to instruct it to switch to high quality videos. As long as you have a connection to your local wireless network, if an HQ video feed is available the app will stream it to your phone automatically.